Gather Report

Yesterday we welcomed leaders from our 9 partner charities for a day of leadership development. This was the 3rd Gather event for this cohort who are part of our three year leadership project. We come together twice annually for events that have become among our most anticipated days of the year.
We actually began on Wednesday evening with a dinner for the first chair (Executive Director, President, CEO) leaders of each organization. The conversation was generally unstructured but included sharing the memory of the first moments of realizing we were actually the ones truly responsible for our organizations.
Thursday we added several other key leaders from these charities. After sharing some of the successes and struggles involved in developing a solid leadership cultures, we returned to the REACTION Dashboard, a tool we’ve been using with increasing frequency for about a year and a half now. It gave us a chance to identify and plan action for potential problems as well as some things worthy of a celebration.
Doug Alexander challenged us to reconsider our approach to fundraising by recognizing the power and potential of making it more of a human encounter and less of a transaction. He also gave us a glimpse into the heart behind the generosity that he and Shirley have embraced, which has made Gather possible.Shirley brought us deeper into the idea of generosity, spurring us to consider more deeply the role generosity plays in our own lives.
Breakout discussions on how to best empower others, what kinds of organizational structures support dynamic teams, how to handle difficult conversations, and what the application of Doug’s fundraising ideas might look like were interspersed with excellent food and plenty of laughs.
We wrapped up a good day by receiving some helpful feedback on what Catalyst can do to better serve our partners, including some intriguing possibilities for our next Gather event in August.
Thanks to all who were able to be with us.